BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          ACR 44 (Ammiano)
          As Introduced  April 4, 2013
          Majority vote 

           RULES               7-1                                         
           
           -------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Skinner, Brown, Chau,     |
          |     |Nazarian,                 |
          |     |V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,   |
          |     |Weber                     |
          |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Donnelly                  |
          |     |                          |
           -------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Declares the third Friday of every April as the  
          National Day of Silence; and, encourages school districts in the  
          state to enforce laws and policies that prohibit name calling,  
          bullying, harassment, and discrimination against all students,  
          teachers, and other school staff regardless of their sexual  
          orientation and gender identity or expression.  Specifically,  
           this resolution  makes the following legislative findings:

          1)The National Day of Silence is a day in which students take a  
            vow of silence to bring attention to the antilesbian, antigay,  
            antibisexual, and antitransgender name calling, bullying, and  
            harassment faced by individuals in schools.

          2)In past years, hundreds of thousands of students at more than  
            8,000 schools have participated in the National Day of  
            Silence; and, nearly 82% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and  
            transgender students reported being verbally harassed by their  
            peers at school for their sexual orientation, and more than  
            60% because of their gender expression.

          3)Physical harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender  
            students is more than 38%; and, 27% because of gender  
            expression. Physical assault by their peers is reported to be  
            over 18% for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and more  
            than 12% because of gender expression.

          4)Student academic performance is affected such that lesbian,  








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            gay, bisexual, and transgender students who experience high  
            levels of verbal harassment because of their sexual  
            orientation or gender expression report a grade point average  
            nearly one-half grade lower than those who have experienced  
            low levels of harassment.

          5)The presence of supportive staff contributed to a range of  
            positive indicators including fewer reports of missing school,  
            fewer reports of feeling unsafe, greater academic achievement,  
            higher educational aspirations, and a greater sense of school  
            belonging.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  None

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800 


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